I hope she would act in more series. Pretty good actress
Nogizaka 46 is nurturing a lot of good actresses in the past few years. Watch out for the 4th and 5th Gens, many of the kids were ex-child actresses or at least received acting training prior to joining the group.
This woman is gorgeous and her voice omg...! I loved every scene with her in Nagareboshi... how did she not get…
She used to be one of the most highly-rated youth prospects in mid-to-late 2000s, perhaps up to early 2010s as well, before imploding afterwards. She (and her compatriot Fukuda Saki, which sadly fell out of favor too) was AMAZING in LIFE, remember she was still a kid back then. Pretty decent singer too, she might've become a perfect 1980s idol had she's born in different era.
From some of her interviews, I reckon she has had serious trouble in her private life, for example hint of alcoholism (I remembered once she said she woke up in 2 pm(!!!)). Yes, this is yet another case of stars destroying their own career, which is too bad considering what she might've become had she got her acts together sooner (or never got into such trouble).
Arguably the best actress that come out of the 48-family idol system so far. Call me crazy but she's easily better than the likes of present Acchan and Oshima Yuko (who entered the acting world much earlier and have racked up more experience) in this regard. Just watch Nihon Boro Yado Kiko and Risky and you'll understand what I meant.
Seems she is doing quite okay for a former child prodigy transitioning into an adult actor despite some rocky re-starts. Japanese acting industry notoriously has close to nonexistent success rate for such cases. Granted, upon comeback she appeared to struggle to adjust her acting style for a while, of which at times looked a bit unnatural, although recently she's finally rediscovering her form.
Yeah, she's a wonderkid when she was child, like Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mirai Shida, Mayuko Fukuda, Suzuka Ohgo.
And yet among those names, only Kamiki who consistently manages to maintain such respectable reputation. Perhaps the ONLY person who does so in the past 30-40 years in Japan. The Japanese acting industry is truly unconducive for child prodigies to transition towards mature actors. The success rate is absolutely abysmal, as shown in the samples mentioned.
Mana was a powerful actor when she was very young, natural and convincing, and filled up every scene. Unfortunately…
I think she still does quite well in Hoshi no Ko (her first full feature movie after the comeback). But I agree, she hasn't yet done show-of-force like what she did back as a child prodigy. I reckon it's because she is shifting her focus elsewhere, especially in study (she appears to be quite gifted academically too - literally some sort of a polymath), thus making a full acting career much like of a lower priority. Much of her appearances recently are just in variety shows and commercials.
More like 2015 is when she began taking off, although yet still no major awards. She very narrowly lost to Takahata…
Her rise seems to be of interesting case study, since she's one of those rare 'outsiders' (the ones who aren't endowed with spotlights and showered with high-profile roles from the start) who manage to break though the (increasingly) elitist system. TBH it should be an example for other up-and-coming youngsters who are still outside of the corridor: be wise to choose to whom and what you'll be working with.
And to think that particular movie wasn't initially considered to compete amongst high-profile-studded movies (Ohku Akiko's prior works were of very indie ones), yet it still delivers.
I just noticed she took lots of good projects in 2015 and the fact that she magnificently delivered all of them…
More like 2015 is when she began taking off, although yet still no major awards. She very narrowly lost to Takahata Mitsuki that year (I think, by just a point), both co-starring in Mondai no Aru Restaurant. But at least she started getting noticed by J-Drama/Movie big wigs. But IMO she didn't really break out until circa 2017-2018, by winning Best Actress in Katte ni Furuetero and cast by Koreeda in Manbiki Kazoku (her first true 'elite' role).
Thank you. The director/screenwriter got me interested so i decided to check it out and it was indeed a beautiful…
Sadly that's exactly what happens. Episode 2 onward are paywalled and not available in Youtube. Granted, one can just pay for Hikari TV's subscription which is quite cheap at the first month (350 yen), but I'm afraid it could be pretty steep afterwards like most pay-in channels. And this show airs for two months instead of one that is.
Thank you. The director/screenwriter got me interested so i decided to check it out and it was indeed a beautiful…
Yup, weird to see "Limited Time Free Streaming" but with no clear when it'll be ended lol. On the downside, usually only a few episodes are available for free streaming, one needs to pay subscription to see the rest (and AFAIK Hikari TV isn't available outside of Japan).
2 
From some of her interviews, I reckon she has had serious trouble in her private life, for example hint of alcoholism (I remembered once she said she woke up in 2 pm(!!!)). Yes, this is yet another case of stars destroying their own career, which is too bad considering what she might've become had she got her acts together sooner (or never got into such trouble).
And to think that particular movie wasn't initially considered to compete amongst high-profile-studded movies (Ohku Akiko's prior works were of very indie ones), yet it still delivers.